Jantelagen, the Swedish mantra of putting team before self

What's your favorite thing about Rasmus Dahlin?

This is the question members of the Buffalo Sabres are being asked by their social media team after practice has ended.

They say Dahlin is really funny. They say Dahlin has great hair. They say Dahlin is extremely talented in a variety of ways. One teammate's answer was that Dahlin is Swedish. Another went as far as to say Dahlin has always had his back. It eventually led to a few coaches and players wondering whether the 22-year-old star defenseman was asked what he liked about himself.

«Are you asking everyone this question?» Dahlin said. «Oh my God. No.»

Dahlin then walked back to the dressing room, which left everyone around him laughing. What he did in that moment was more than a polite way to get out of answering the question. The fact that Dahlin asked about the group first while placing himself second, then chose not to talk about himself, is rather significant in its own right.

Back home in Sweden, it's referred to as Jantelagen.

What is Jantelagen exactly? Essentially, it's putting the success of the group before the accomplishments of the individual, and it has been part of the traditional cultural belief system in Sweden for hundreds of years.

Sounds perfect, particularly in hockey, where one of the game's staples is having a team-first mentality, right?

Not necessarily. Jantelagen can be more complicated than that.

«We don't like to brag, we don't like to put ourselves before the group. That's how Sweden works, I guess,» Dahlin said. «But there's also a good part about being yourself and not being scared to be yourself. It's a huge question.»

«It's probably more of a problem than it is a blessing, to be honest with you,» Nashville Predators winger Filip